PEER COMPANIES

Sensex and Nifty opened in the green but failed to hold altitude in the absence of any positive trigger.

The rupee on Tuesday slipped 32 paise to 72.95 against the US dollar in early trade after crude prices soared ahead of impending US sanctions on Iran.

As per Reuters, Oil markets opened strongly on Tuesday, with Brent crude remaining near a four-year reached the previous session. Global Benchmark Brent crude jumped more than 3 per cent on Monday to a four-year high above $80 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out any immediate increase in production despite calls by US President Donald Trump for action to raise global supply.

Major global markets were down as new US tariffs on China revived fears of hitting the global economic growth.

Around 9.27 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was 106 points, or 0.29 per cent, down at 36,200, with 19 stocks declining in trade. The NSE Nifty was 40 points, or 0.36 per cent, down at 10,928. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 19 stocks were in the black and 31 were in the red.

Midcaps and smallcap continued trailing Sensex, falling up to 0.80 per cent.

Among sectoral indices on the BSE, energy and healthcare bucked the trend by trading in the green zone.

BSE Telecom plunged 2.54 per cent, emerging to be the top loser among sectoral indices. Most telecom stocks came under pressure after reports that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is set to conduct ‘special audits’ of mobile phone operators from fiscal year 2011-12 onwards to check for under-reporting of revenue that might account for a sharp downturn in licence fees and spectrum usage charges.